Requiem for a Dream”

An Analysis of the Film “Requiem for a Dream” by Angela de Sousa (06th May 2014_Film Theory) Page 1 of 10 Film Analysis of “Requiem for a Dream” Director: Darren Aronofsky Writer: Hubert Selby Jr (based on his book / Screenplay) Darren Aronofsky (Screenplay) Release Date: October 2000 Genre: Drama Starring: Ellen Burnstyn.........................................................................Sara Goldfarb Jared Leto..............................................................................Harry Goldfarb Jennifer Connelly......................................................................Marion Silver Marlon Wayans.....................................................................Tyrone C. Love Christopher McDonald...........................................................Tappy Tibbons Keith David........................................................................................Big Tim Sean Gullette.....................................................................Arnold the Shrink An ancient Chinese proverb states that “one picture is worth ten thousand words” and in the film ‘Requiem for a Dream’ it is very true. The basic plot of the film is about addiction and the harsh reality of outcomes that it has upon its victims. The film focuses specifically on the lives of Sara and Harry Goldfarb (mother and son), Marion Silver (Harry’s girlfriend) and Tyrone C. Love (Harry’s best friend). The film takes place in Coney Island (Brooklyn, New York City, North America) and spans over a few months, from summer to winter in their lives while they go through the ordeals of exploring the alluring world of addiction and how their lives spiral out of control and resulting in them being consumed by the effects of these addictions. Angela de Sousa Film Theory/Analysis_Assignment - Requiem for a Dream 06 May 2014 Page 2 of 10 The meaning behind the film in which Darren Aronofsky is portraying is that addictions have a high cost (not necessarily in monetary terms but in what you might lose of yourself and those around you in the process) and that it will lead to a negative outcome. The film is a depiction of how people try run away from the harsh realities of life by replacing it with something that subdues us or gives us that brief moment of euphoria. This becomes an addiction because the more we want to escape reality the more we need our chosen fix and that it will eventually consume us. Just like the hole in Harry’s arm. What is also interesting, and what Darren Aronofsky captures is the lengths people will go in order to obtain their addictions even if it means creating new addictions and even setting aside all sense of morality and relationships. The purpose of this film and the themes that it is addressing is to show the dark side of what addiction has on its subjects physically, emotionally and mentally, that there are consequences to our actions and that relationships can steer us towards certain direction regarding our actions, if the relationships are broken then we will undoubtedly follow a broken (self-destructive) path and that we should be aware of the dangers. Throughout the entire film we are subjected to the characters decisions in their partaking of their addictions and we are following their lives along a subjective view of all the situations they are faced with and the consequences of their actions. It is as if we ourselves are either partaking along with them or it can also be seen from the point the we are peeping into their personal lives, right down into the darkest hidden corners, judging them as they make one mistake right after another without the option of lending a helping hand, all we can do is watch their lives descend into desolation. The Encarta English Dictionary describes ‘Addiction’ as follows: - Drug dependence - a state of physiological or psychological dependence on a potentially harmful drug - Devotion - a great interest in a particular thing to which a lot of time is devoted - Need to do an activity – a strong need or wish to spend as much time as possible doing a particular thing Angela de Sousa Film Theory/Analysis_Assignment - Requiem for a Dream 06 May 2014 Page 3 of 10 The word ‘drug’ in the above mentioned definition, I believe, is not only limited to illegal narcotics but it included other substances that we tend to abuse on a daily basis, examples of these are tobacco, caffeine, sweets and sugars etc. The composition of the film used was captured well by cinematographer Matthew Libatique. There are different perspectives being used throughout the film with the use of the different camera techniques and they will be discussed below. In the beginning of the film we are introduced to Sara Goldfarb and Harry Goldfarb (mother and Son) as they bicker amongst each other from two separate rooms. She has locked herself in the closet while Harry is on the other side (living room) and is trying to take her television set that she had chained up in an attempt to keep him from taking it, even if she confesses that she has done so to keep the robbers from taking it. Possibly it can also be seen as her being chained to her addiction of television. This scene is interesting as it is depicted by a split screen (Figure 1) - a ‘scene’ is made up of several shots that take place in the same location and time and a ‘split screen’ is when two images are shown at the exact same time on the screen but on opposite sides and in each side it is showing two different images that can either be at the same location and time or they can be at different locations and at different times. In this specific scene we get to see Sara in the closet while Harry is in the living room, we get to see both of their reactions how both of them are trying to make one another fee guilt, how she is afraid of him and it also represents that they have a ‘split’ relationship. There is another use of a split screen when Harry and Marion are having an intimate encounter but we see them separately on the screen and how the way that they are touching each other is more of an un-intimate encounter (Figure 2). Angela de Sousa Film Theory/Analysis_Assignment - Requiem for a Dream 06 May 2014 Page 4 of 10 There as a number of wide angled shots in the beginning of them film. A ‘wide angle’ shot is used to depict the location of where the subject is and/or what is happening around the subject. We see a few examples of this while Harry and Tyrone are pushing the television set along the streets of Coney Island to pawn it off to get money for their drugs (Figure 3). In this film the wide angle shot is not only just to portrayed the location of where the film is taking place or where the subjects are but it was used in the sense that we are still not in the thick of things just yet. There is a moment when Harry and Tyrone pass the back of the Coney Island Amusement Park and captures in its view the roller coaster tracks above them; this is one of the many subtle hints that are given throughout the film that the characters and we, as viewers, will be taken along a roller coaster ride. There is an irritatingly redundant amount of montages used. A ‘montage’ is a subsequent amount of images and sounds that are shown right after one another, usually in a rapid procession. The montages are used throughout the film whenever a character is partaking their addictions, even during a split screen montage to differentiate between the two characters partaking of their own separate addictions during the same moment of time in the same place yet they are apart (this is seen right before the shot of Harry and Marion on the bed slowly spinning – Figure 4). These montages are a bunch of random images and sounds that give the viewer an understanding of a quick fix, how simple the process appears and as to what it is that they are taking. There is no use for dialogue in these scenes since the imaginary and sound captures it clearly and each of these scenes where catered for each character specifically as to what their addiction is. With Harry, Marion and Tyrone it was a lot of illegal narcotic drugs, money and cigarettes whereas with Sara, her montage scenes where mainly her watching the television, eating and excessively taking diet pills to combat the binge eating and speed pills in order to help her lose weight. Angela de Sousa Film Theory/Analysis_Assignment - Requiem for a Dream 06 May 2014 Page 5 of 10 The scene above mentioned of Harry and Marion on the bed that is slowly zooming out and spiralling is another hint that their lives are spinning out of control. Their dialogue is that of love for each other but they are staring straight up above and they are hardly making any contact with one another so it’s another representation that they are more ‘self’ loving and that their relationship is not whole like they want it to be. Some shots were done with a Snorricam (a small camera that is strapped onto the subject so that when they move they are kept in centre while the background moves so to give a more realistic sense of what the character is experiencing). This is used when Tyrone is running away when the other drug dealers got gunned down and he is covered in blood and scared out of him mind right up to where the cops capture him. It is also used when Marion is doing the walk of shame when she leaves Arnolds room after having to have coital encounter with him for money and she is walking down the corridor to the elevator and up to where she is outside in the rain and pukes.

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